


CL< new mexico > albuquerque > personals> missed connections

by scratches



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies), Hawkeye (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Darcy Lewis, Craigslist, Craigslist Missed Connections, Cute sweaters, F/M, Harry Potter References, Maybe i will finish this, Mostly Fluff, Scientist Wrangler Darcy Lewis, UST, baker - Freeform, no one dies, pizza dog - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-09-28 04:39:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10072115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scratches/pseuds/scratches
Summary: Unbeknownst to Darcy, Bucky was the man she handed the puppy off to during the Destroyer attack.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have been sitting on this and more chapters of this for almost a year and decided that I was finally going to post it. I am sure there are little problems, so if you point them out i will fix them. Hope you like the missed connections fic no one ever asked for.

_****_

_**CL < new mexico > albuquerque > personals> missed connections** _

_**You handed me your dog -m4f- 98** _

__

_**Long shot but here it goes:** _

_**A few years ago when Thor landed and crazy shit was going down, you were evacuating the area and stopped my car and gave me your dog. He has been looked after by a nice family.** _

_**I know this is four years too late, but I am hoping you see this. I haven’t stopped thinking about you saving his life.** _

_**Email me back with the name you named him.** _

_****_

 

Here’s the thing, Darcy loved all things internet. She really liked to follow tumblr, instagram, twitter, facebook, reddit, and all the other alternate ways to acquire news other than from mainstream media. Everyone has things they do on the internet that they don’t want others to know. Jane checked xkcd on the regular. Thor watched sloth videos when he thought no one was looking. Tony browsed blown glass sculptures. Bruce searched for things with the word _hamburger_ on EBay. Clint read Hunger Games fanfiction. Darcy, well, Darcy trolled Craigslist. It had been a hobby going on for eight years, and with all of the crazy of the last four, she looked at it to find free furniture, spare electronic parts for Jane, and with some hope, the missed connections section.

Sure, she had posted in missed connections. The guy on the subway looking forlorn, the girl in the park playing with her kids, the obnoxious college kids at Buffalo Wild Wings that ruined Boneless Wing Night. In all the years she browsed, she was never the object of a missed connection. She wore bright lipstick, patterned tights, had a very one of a kind satchel, and was.. she was Darcy Fucking Lewis. She was memorable, dammit.

Darcy was sitting in the confines of Stark Tower, watching Jane Science! when she decided to look at cities where she had been before. Seriously New York was huge, the missed connection section was over ten pages long (from just today), she didn’t have time to look through all of those, and the other more recent days.

London, just as big as New York, skip.

Norway. Nothing.

Virginia. Nothing.

D.C. Nothing.

Asgard (hahahahaha, she wishes).

New Mexico> Albuquerque>

Darcy’s eyes widened in shock. Three pages back, almost a month now, there was a post about a dog. A dog she had passed off to a dark haired stranger minutes after she had found said dog cowering behind a dumpster. Darcy couldn’t let the dog perish in the chaos that was happening, she couldn’t. She had picked up the dog, cooed to him, and held his shaking body until the car stopped and she handed him off. 

“Holy fuuuuuuuuuuck.” She whipped her left hand out and pushed at Jane’s shoulder. “Jane. Jane! Jane!” She dragged out the last one for a few seconds until Jane whipped her hand out and held onto Darcy’s arm.

“Darcy!” Jane replied without looking at her friend.

“Jane,” she shook her friend’s arm and rocked her body, “I am a missed connection. Oh. Fuck. Dude.”

Jane looked at her friend who was still staring at the page. “What?”

Turning with wide eyes, Darcy said slowly, “I. am. a. missed. connection. Someone is trying to connect with me. They… They know where Baker is.”

Jane’s brows knitted together and she asked, “The dog from New Mexico?”

“The one and only.”

Jane raised one brow up and asked, “Seriously?”

“I can’t make this kind of stuff up, Jane!” Darcy’s voice was climbing, her breathing erratic. “Look!” She turned her laptop towards Jane and they both read over the words. 

Looking back at Darcy in disbelief, she asked plainly, “Are you going to reply?”

“Am I going to reply?!” Darcy dropped her arm from her friend. “No! I mean, maybe. Why would I. I mean…. It’s not like.. I don’t know Jane!” She threw her hands up before pushing her chair back and swiveling in it. “What do you do in this situation?”

Shrugging, Jane plainly said, “Reply.”

Darcy narrowed her eyes from behind her glasses and asked, “Are you sure?”

“You haven’t stopped thinking about getting a dog since that day, Darcy. Even when we were holed up in an Igloo in Norway, all you talked about was playing fetch in the snow with a dog you held for thirty seconds.” She pushed the laptop back towards Darcy’s desk, and said, “Just reply.” 

Scooting back towards the desk, she let her hands hover over the keys. “Seriously?”

Jane moved back and stretched her arms up. “I’m going to go buy us some sandwiches at the place around the corner and grab us two coffees from Stark’s office. When I get back, you better have replied.” She stood and moved to the door.

“You. Getting Lunch.” Darcy narrowed her eyes further and asked, “For real real?”

“I’ll even get you the coffee with the chocolate nibs on top. I know where Stark hides them.” Jane said plainly.

“Caramel sauce too?”

“Do I look like an amature coffee gatherer? Actually don’t answer that. I’m getting us food and coffee and you are going to reply. You only have to reply one word, Darcy. It isn’t that hard.” Jane stood at the door and looked at her friend, “He probably knows if the dog is doing well. Maybe he even has a photo.” Jane shrugged and moved quietly out of the lab.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuck” Darcy let her head drop to the desk, chin resting on the edge as she stared at her laptop. It was only one word. She could do this. 

At the top of the page, she moved the cursor and let it hover over the reply button for a moment before she clicked it and her Stark Industries email popped up. “Either this or.. gmail.” She shrugged to herself, didn’t change the subject line and went straight to the body of the email. **_Baker_**

Before she could chicken out, she pressed the send button and the email whooshed and was sent with a ping. “What have I done.” She asked herself before covering her head with her hands and stayed in the position until she heard the lab door open and Tony’s laughter echoing through the room. “Jane, please tell me you didn’t.”

“Of course she did, Miss Lewis.” Tony cackled before leaning against her desk.

Jane dropped the bag of sandwiches on the space between their computers and sighed, “He wouldn’t tell me where he hid the caramel, Darcy, he asked why _I_ was getting coffee and not you.” She rested her hand on Darcy’s shoulder and said, “It just slipped out, I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” He laughed again before looking at her computer screen and read the message on craigslist. “Seriously? This dude like, what?” He snorted and pointed at the screen, “He’s one of those kind of guys. He didn’t even put his real age, Lewis.” He laughed again when Darcy looked at him and groaned.

“I’m never going to live this down, thanks Jane.” She sighed heavily before a loud ping was heard and they all turned to stare at the computer screen and the small message envelope that had popped up in the corner of the screen.

“You going to open that, Lewis?” Tony asked before moving behind her and looking over her shoulder. 

“Not with you standing behind me reading it.” Darcy snapped.

“Come on, Lewis, this is awesome. I am IRON MAN and I have never been missed connected. Let me live through you, just this once, I’ll give you a whole case of cocoa nibs for your own lab.”

She looked over her shoulder and asked, “Caramel sauce too?”

“Caramel sauce, and.. and.. Jane, what do you want?”

Darcy looked over at Jane and she let a small smile creep over her features, “You wearing Thor Tshirts for the next month.”

“That’s it?” He raised an eyebrow in her direction. 

“No repeats.” She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked.

Darcy laughed and rolled her eyes at the both of them. “Cocoa nibs, caramel sauce, and Thor Tshirts. I think,” she paused and turned back to the screen, “it is a deal.” She put her hands on the cursor pad and moved the arrow to click the envelope and watched as a message popped up on the screen.

 

__  
From: xgss23d98h172@craigslist.com  
To: lightningwarrior@Iloveironman.com 

_Subject: RE: reply--You handed me your dog -m4f- 98_

_I didn’t know that this would have worked. Um. So yeah. Baker._

_That is his name._

__

 

“That is lame with a capital L, Lewis.” Tony scoffed and sighed. “I have to wear Thor Shirts for a month for two lame lines.”

“Should I reply?” Darcy looked between her two employers and had already clicked the reply button. “Seriously, what should I say?”

Jane pushed her friend out of the way and started to type.

 

__  
From: lightningwarrior@Iloveironman.com  
To: xgss23d98h172@craigslist.com 

_Subject: RE: RE: reply--You handed me your dog -m4f- 98_

_Thank you for finding someone to look after Baker. I know I literally forced you to take him while a giant automoton was trying to flatten the town. I really hope it wasn’t a lot of trouble. I couldn’t let him sit behind the trash can and die.  
_

 

“Jane. That is kind of morbid.” Looking over at her friend she watched as she moved back to the keys and kept typing.

_“I haven’t stopped talking about him since I picked him up. I think it drives my best friend nuts.”_

Tony snorted again and said, “You and everyone in this building, Jane.”

“I don’t know why she hasn’t gone out and adopted a dog since we moved in here, Tony. We aren’t planning on moving anytime soon.” Jane shrugged and pressed send before Darcy could stop her.

“Jane! JANE! Why did you send that?” Darcy moved backwards and pushed Tony with her. 

“Because you never would have, Darcy!” She moved towards the sandwiches and pulled one out, “Pastrami all the way, just how you like it. Veggie wrap for me. Tony can have the chips.” 

She passed him a bag of Doritos and Tony caught them. “Fuck yeah, Doritos.”

“I love Pastrami.” Darcy waddled her chair back towards Jane and hugged her around the middle. “Pastrami cures all of my woes, even if you gave my Doritos away.”

Tony ripped the bag of Doritos open and was in the process of sticking his hand in when the computer pinged again. “Yo, this dude is hard up, Darce.” He pulled out an unbroken chip and shoved it into his mouth.

Unwrapping her sandwich from the deli paper, Darcy looked at Tony and said, “I’m hard up, Tony.” She smiled widely before stuffing the sandwich into her mouth and taking a large bite.

Jane pulled her wrap out of its paper and held it with her left before reaching past Darcy and clicking the envelope in the right hand corner of the desktop. “SCIENCE! can wait.” A small secretive smile blossomed across her face before she held the wrap to her lips and bit into it.

 

__

_From: xgss23d98h172@craigslist.com  
To: lightningwarrior@Iloveironman.com_

_Subject:RE: RE: RE: reply--You handed me your dog -m4f- 98_

_I won’t lie to you and say it was the weirdest thing that has happened to me, but it was definitely one of the more interesting parts. If it helps, he totally pissed all over my lap. (I mean, that might not help, but looking back it was kind of funny after everything that happened that day)_

_I had someone I trusted take him. His family take wonderful care of them. I haven’t been back to New Mexico since that time. Baker actually isn’t even in New Mexico. I drove him to my friends in Colorado. He has dog brothers and sisters now. Last I heard he chased a mountain lion off of the property._

_He has moxie, that’s for sure._

__

 

Tony paused in his reading and looked at the two girls, “The only person I know that uses moxie in everyday conversation is Steve Rogers. What a fucking fanboy.” He snorted and continued to read:

 

_  
I’m really glad you saw this and messaged back. Even though you only knew him for ten seconds, you looked like you cared for him for ten years._

__

 

“This dude is smooth.” 

“Tony.” Darcy held her sandwich in one hand and grabbed for a Dorito with the other. “Stop interrupting. I’m being _connected_ ”

 

 

_Unfortunately, I can’t make the suggestion that I can get him back for you. My friend and his family have taken to Baker and I can’t see them giving him up. I attached a picture of him they sent me over the holidays_

_I hope that doesn’t add fuel to the fire of you annoying your best friend._

__

 

Jane choked on her veggie wrap and laughed. “It better not.”

“Oh.. Oh my Thor.” Darcy grabbed at her laptop screen with her free hand and her face morphed and she started to coo at the screen. “Look at him. He is all grown up.. and the sweater! The sweater guys.” 

“I can buy you one so you can match.” Tony shoved a handful of Dorito crumbs into his mouth and talked around them, “This dude is pulling at your heartstrings, Lewis. He is buttering you up.”

Darcy leaned back in her desk chair and said, “He can butter me all he wants. Fandral knows how...Thor.” She looked at Tony and smiled. “I haven’t even told you about him. Like, Baker, I remember him in my arms, and stuff being destroyed, but the dude that rolled up in the Mustang.” She held onto Tony’s arm and shook him.

“Here she goes…” Jane said around her sandwich.

“A ‘67 black Mustang with white racing stripes, you know, underneath all of the desert dirt and explosion dust.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “Freya must had a hand in sculpting this glorious creature. Dark and handsome, bet he was tall too.” She moaned a little and opened her eyes and held onto Tony a little tighter. “Tony. You. Don’t. Understand. How. Hot. He. Was. is? I don’t even know.”

He pried her hand off of his arm and asked, “Darcy, how hot was he?”

“Mother fucking _Scortching_ hot.” She fanned herself before leaning forward and clicking reply and started to smash the keys rapidly. 

 

__

_From: lightningwarrior@Iloveironman.com  
To: xgss23d98h172@craigslist.com_

_Subject: RE: RE:RE: RE: reply--You handed me your dog -m4f- 98_

_HDJFAHKTTJKNEEEDKJSHAGDU72664JFK_

_You tease me with photos of Baker. They dress him in sweaters. I was going to dress him in sweaters. Especially now that I am in New York it wouldnt be animal abuse… you know because it gets too hot in New Mexico._

_My boss boss is looking over my shoulder, and I am pretty sure he is ordering me a matching moose sweater as I type this. Hahaha._

_Bestfriend thanks you already for adding fuel to the fire. She is sitting right next to me reading this. I mean, she is my boss to but not THE BOSS THE BOSS who is going to buy me sweaters._

__

 

All of this was typed rapidly and Tony spoke to Jane, “Now I know why you keep her around.”

Jane swallowed and smiled, “Darcy has a lot of talents and yes, she keeps me fed and clean, but girl knows how to work her way around a computer. What was your last word per limit, Darcy?”

Darcy didn’t let up on the keys as she said “Hundred thirty seven for three hours. FRIDAY helped time me.”  
__

_Seriously, thanks for the missed connection. Ive been fretting about him being safe or maybe back behind a dumpster. I am just glad he went somewhere good. COLORADO. I am imagining him jumping on a kids sled and sledding down a damn mountain now in that baller sweater._

_Thanks dude… break is probably almost over though. My boss and THE BOSSBOSS might start commenting even more than they already are._

_But feel free to send more Baker pictures if they send you more. I am really glad he went to a good home._

__

She sent the message with a swoosh before sitting back and grabbing her sandwich. “Being missed connected is weird.” Darcy took a bite before the room turned to look at a machine on the other side that started to whir and beep enthusiastically. 

“Is that the THOR machine?” Tony asked.

“Thermal Heli-Outerspace Resonator,” the two women said in unison before pushing their seats back and moving to the machine with haste.

“Yeah, the THOR machine, so when should we expect him? Should i order another twelve hundred boxes of poptarts and columbian coffee?” Tony moved towards the machine and stood behind Darcy and Jane, looking at the green and yellow blinking lights.

“These aren’t the big guy’s frequency.” Jane said before turning a dial.

Straightforward and to the point, Tony asked, “Loki?”

Darcy grabbed a pen and paper and said, “FRIDAY, archive the video from today so we can visually go over the findings.” She handed the paper to Jane and grabbed her tablet and started to hit keys. “This isn’t from Asgard, Tony. There are nine realms. This… well, let’s hope they are friendly?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy and Jane meet some super soldiers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not even going to apologize for the wait on this.  
> As always if you see mistakes or continuity issues point it out :)  
> It is also a short one. But i swear to you there are more just waiting for me not to be lazy.

After taking time and recalibrating the machine, weeks later, Jane and Darcy sat back at their desks and look at one another. They both have black grease across their faces as they both laughed. “I can’t believe we forgot to calibrate it to the sun, its solar flares, and Tony being Tony.” Jane shook her head before she said, “I shouldn’t have turned it on until we had looked it over multiple times.”

Darcy picked and flicked a piece of dust off of her silver clad shoulder as she replied, “I mean, we had to turn it on at some point. You knew almost immediately what had happened, minus the Tony thing. Then Tony was able to help us with setting the frequency to only search for Thor’s until we could calibrate it to search for other anomalies.”

There was a knock at the lab door. Darcy quirked her eyebrow at Jane. No one that frequently visited Jane’s personal lab usually knocked. Tony usually barged in and had FRIDAY cue up crappy cock rock that would make Darcy jump and Jane look up from her notes for a moment before going back to her work. They turned in tandem towards the door and watched as Steve Rogers walked in.

“What can we do you for, Captain?” Darcy asked before quirking a brow in his direction.

“Steve, please.” He stood stock straight and apologized for interrupting their work.

Jane fidgeted in her seat before saying, “We are taking a break. You couldn’t have caught us at a better time.”

“Just recalibrated the THOR machine.” Darcy fist pumped the air and swiveled in her chair before looking out behind Steve, please. 

Steve coughed and motioned behind him where a man stood at the edge of the door, back to the door frame, and looking down the hallway. “I’m just bringing Bucky ‘round and introducing him to vital members of the team.”

Darcy snorted and queried “Vital..pshht,” before crossing her arms closer to her chest. She had worn her Winter Soldier styled shirt today not expecting to run into the actual _Winter Soldier_. 

“James.” The word was muttered from where he stood and Darcy side eyed Jane before the man turned to look into the room.

“Well, I can speak for Darcy here,” Jane enunciated clearly, “that we are glad you’re finally with the team.”

“Thor told us all about The Man With The Iron Arm Who Is A Worthy Opponent.” She watched as Steve shook his head in his hand and she caught his eye, her impression was spot on as she projected her voice across the lab. 

It might have been her imagination, but she thought she saw the corners of James’ lips turn up in a small smirk before he turned back to face the wall.

“Regardless, unless we are…. Well, actually, we always have an open door policy, as long as you don’t touch the equipment… or my notes.. actually.” Jane turned to her desk, grabbed a piece of paper and started scribbling across the paper. “Sorry, just… something about the recalibration.”

Steve motioned towards Jane and asked Darcy, “Jane do this often?”

Darcy turned and looked over Jane’s shoulder before replying, “Daily.” Darcy turned back around and shrugged. “She will probably be like this for the next few hours.”

“Science waits for no woman,” Jane stated before turning a page and scrawling across it before moving to the Stark Board wall that FRIDAY automatically scanned as she scrawled across it so no notes were lost in the melee of her brain function. “Sometimes it just,” Jane tapped her cheek with her marker and paused before continuing slowly, “smacks you in the head.”

Everyone watched in silence as Jane scrawled equations across the board followed by names of star systems and coordinates for a few minutes. Shrugging and moving back to her own desk, Darcy wiped a greasy hand across her forehead and gestured to her boss/friend/wacky scientist as she said, “Really, she will be at this for hours, there is a ninety percent chance that she has forgotten that we are watching her.” She stretched her arms above her head and noticed _James_ watching her from the corner of his eye as the red, black, and silver shirt stretched across her shoulders and chest. WELP, there went Darcy pretending that he wouldn't notice her Winter Soldier shirt.

Tidying her desk, she moved different mechanical parts to a drawer and shuffled papers to a neat pile to one side as Steve said, “I’ve seen Tony on science binges, and Bruce, but I haven't been privy to Miss Foster succumbing to the call.” Darcy guffawed and he continued, “It’s definitely a sight to be seen.” All three of them looked over as Jane scraped a step stool across the workspace and started scribbling across the top of the board in a lurid, violent orange marker.

“I'm so used to it, I don't even notice anymore.” Darcy laughed and moved toward Steve and the door. “We missed lunch recalibrating the machine, so I’m going to go make some lunch down in the commons, maybe make some coffee, Tony finally replaced the espresso machine he blew up last week.” She grinned at Steve who shook his head.

Turning and moving behind Darcy as she exited the room, Steve said, “He needs a sitter sometimes, I swear.”

Laughing over her shoulder, Darcy said, “He won't tell me how he managed it this time.” She shrugged before sticking her hand out and looking James up and down. She took in his form fitting jeans, black v-neck, and thick, worn in leather jacket. Man could definitely pull off the Reble Without A Cause look without even trying. He grasped her small greased hand with his and she gave it a squeeze and a shake. Grinning wide, she said easily, “It was nice to meet you, _James_.” Dropping his hand, she met his blue steely gaze before continuing, “Honestly, stop in whenever. We keep strange hours, and unless we are taking space measurements upstate, we are around.”

Reaching out to her, he wiped her forehead, rubbing the majority of the grease off before Steve clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re a mess,” he stated before meeting her eyes again, “‘preciate the invite.” 

“Anytime.” Darcy flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Well, lunch, coffee, maybe a shower. I’ll see you boys later.” She missed Steve nudging James with his shoulder and their gazes watching her move down the hall and the conversation both of them quickly had under their breaths.


End file.
